Christopher Paolini's 4th Book of the Inheritance Cycle

Good lord. You guys really haven’t been writing for months. even if we have all already read the book, we could still talk more about the book (like how Galby turned into a nuclear bomb…hehehe).

Anyways, here is my review on Inheritance.

First off: Cons. Did anyone else get bored with Roran in the first half of the book? In the siege of Argouhs (or however you spell that), i didn’t exactly know what half the stuff being said was or ment at the time, and i got really bored with it because I couldn’t follow. But it’s also like, there’s a really exciting part in a book, and it’s so intense. Ya put the book down for a second then realize you dont’ want to keep reading that part, and for no apparent reason. Not to mention, it was like “OK, dude. We get that you are Chuck Norris. Now shut up and let’s get back to the real story!” Also, wasn’t the VoS a little too obvious?We all knew it was going to be filled with Eldunari. I guess it’s like being in an accelerated math class; you get a really easy equation and make it way harder than it is because you think it’s too easy and that you’re doing something wrong and you get the answer “too quickly” Then there was the ending. For the longest time, i wondered if you’re allowed to sue someone for making a crappy ending to a great book. THE. END. SUCKED. UGLY. TURDS. That is all I have to say about it. It was that bad. Especially after seeing V-sapp’s comments on how it made Paolini just look like an armature writer, and come to think of it, it really did. Thank you, V-sapp, for pointing that out. He really just couldn’t make up a GOOD reason to make Eragon leave Alagasia, now could he? We can all answer that question. It was flat-out horrible. Eragon and Arya definitely could have pulled it off together, even if it did take a long while. And then Murtagh and Thorn had to leave, but at least they had a GOOD reason for it. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t wand a bunch of ninja-assassin dwarves on their tails with no political backup, now would they? Plus, I think Paolini ought to have them in the “Hypothetical” book 5, if it’s not a prequel. Then there is the matter of Murtagh not having any chapters from his point of view. I was sad, to say the least. But I will talk about that later. Next thing was Eragon’s cockiness. Since when was he so arrogant? It really just made him look stupid, and it made me dislike him.

Second: Pros. I liked the way the book started! It was unexpected and really cool. It scared the living crap out of me when Saphira nearly died and when the wall fell on Roran. I was on edge the whole time. Then Paul Revere decided to pop in at the end of chapter three with “The werecats are coming! The werecats are coming!” at the top of his lungs. I thought that line was kinda funny. Then it started with the whole “cheep cheep” thing in chapter four. I was, as were the rest of us, left sitting there wondering what on earth was that all about. The chapter Mooneater was my favorite chapter in the whole book! It was one of the very few sources of major comic relief in the series. Guys, that’s pretty major. We all can tell that Paolini doesn’t really know how to write a large substantial amount of sufficient comedy to balance out the books, and this was a rare, probably once-in-a-lifetime moment where we actually see such wonderful, random comedy! And I think we can all agree that Angela is one of our favorite characters, merely because she is so random. I sometimes wonder if she was once one of The Doctor’s sidekicks, and she went riding off in the TARDIS…Also, I think C.P. may have been watching a lot of Monty Python’s Holy Grayle, because we do hear bits about a mad red-eyed rabbit…that eats people (dwarves are people). I also enjoyed imagining werecats sitting on Urgals’ heads, and the Urgals not really caring, because they all want to hear stories about deranged, mutated rabbits that eat people. The end of the chapter had me splitting my sides with laughter!! I do have to say, well done on that one!Now, while the Seige of Arghous was a bit boring in the beginning, it got real good eventually.

I knew Carn was gonna die, but I was NOT expecting him to die like that, and to kill the other guy that way. It was pretty scary. Another comedy scene, thank god (what with all of the carnage of Arghous), was when Saphira lost the scale on her nose! I was laughing all the way through! And I liked the way Glaedr came back into the story. It was depressing at first, and then Blodgharm (rather harshly as wolves do) brought him out of his shell.I was glad that he eventually lightened up.

Galbatorix was a well-written character. He was one of those self-righteous villans, who believe that they’re doing the right thing. The main reason I know we all still managed to hate his guts all the way around was because he was the world’s biggest hypocrite! “I will rid the world of harmful magic!”

“yeah right, that’s all you use, dumb***”

“There will be no cheating! It will be a fair fight!”

“ALL YOU EVER DO IS CHEAT AND BE UNFAIR IN FIGHTS, SMART ONE!” Yeah, Paolini did a wonderful job of that. The whole Murtagh and Nasuada thing I was sure I wasn’t going to like, and I actually do! It turned out really great, which compensated somewhat for the lack of chapters in Murtagh’s PoV. The chapter Burrow Grubs was an all out horror movie. Rowan and I have been Traumatized by the concept of Burrow Grubs…… (shudders) nasuada is probably very happy she won’t be needing to take any trips to Vrorengard soon. And finaly….the moment we have all been waiting for…KABOOOOOOOOMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT was my favorite part in the book. I am rather glad he ended that way, and I liked the way Eragon made it happen. That was well done!

Third: Notes. Please tell me that me and my friends arent’ the only ones to actually discuss weather or not someone could fly to the moon on a dragon…turns out, it is possible, theoretically. But I really don’t feel like explaining it. Also, Paolini’s map makes no Geographical sense. He needs to go back and re-learn his earth science. The Hadarac desert should be an awful lot bigger, and closer to the Spine and the Beors…just some thoughts.

Hey guys. Christopher finally had his first post-release interview with Shurtugal.com’s Mike McCauley, and, while there is more to come, the first installment was pretty enlightening.

As most of you have read, I was a little less critical about the book as a whole than many on the site, but even I was very irked with a lot of loose ends in the book (and the series as a whole), especially with the ending scene and the romance (or lack-there-of) between Eragon and Arya. Well, as I’ve said, I believed that the ending was originally intended to be much different then what was released. It turns out I was right.

Christopher Paolini: The ending evolved as I wrote the story. Originally, Eragon and Arya were to leave together, Roran was going to become king, and Queen Islanzadí — well, at first I was going to kill her, then I decided to let her live, and then I decided that if Arya was to stay, Islanzadí had to die after all.

Mike Macauley: What caused the major shift in thinking?

Christopher Paolini: Basically, I realized that the characters weren’t the people I thought they were back when I was fifteen, and that if I forced Eragon and Arya together (and it would be forcing them) I would end up breaking Arya’s character. I wrote a big chunk of Inheritance thinking that she and Eragon would be together. However the scenes between them, scenes where they were rather openly flirting, just did not work. Essentially, I was writing Arya the way that Eragon *wanted* her to be, not the way that she actually was. So, I cut back on the flirting. When I did that, I realized that it made no sense for Arya to suddenly turn on a dime at the end and leap into Eragon’s arms. If she did, it would seem as if she was only doing it for the sake of the dragons, not for Eragon, and Eragon himself would have noticed this. It would have left a very bitter taste in peoples’ mouths, I think.

This was exactly what I thought had happened, though I’m not exactly thrilled about it. I kind of hoped that maybe Chris had some other good reason for ending the story how he did that would make me less annoyed, but that could not be the case.

So, Chris changed the fates of Eragon, Arya, Islanzadi and Roran. Roran’s change is fine with me. All of the hinting/foreshadowing of the future king being from Palancar Valley doesn’t make sense anymore, but I think the new ending works well with Roran. And Islanzadi could have gone either way, though I leaned toward her dying anyway based on foreshadowing. What does NOT sit well with me is Eragon and Arya’s ending.

First of all, Chris admits to writing a “big chunk” of the book with the intention of Eragon and Arya being together only to change his mind toward the end, apparently because he couldn’t write Arya “flirting.” Before I say anything else, I just wanted to add that his intentions for them clearly showed in the book and the fact that they didn’t get together seemed all the more cheap because those scenes were clearly hinting toward their future together. Since Chris decided that wasn’t going to happen– whatever arguments one can present for or against that– I think we can all agree that he clearly needed to go back to those early pages and rewrite them from a clean slate. They were not “cut back” on nearly enough. And maybe omitting them entirely would have set a better mood for their relationship in the end. But that is on him and his editor.

Now, as for the “flirting” thing, if he means that how it sounds, that is the most immature thing I’ve ever heard from his mouth. Can any of you picture Arya “openly flirting” with anybody? I can’t either. But the reason for that isn’t because it’s unimaginable for Arya to show romantic affection towards someone. It’s because Arya is an experienced, wise, and, most importantly, introverted character. Is it going to feel right for ANY introverted character to flirt openly with someone? Of course not! But that doesn’t mean those people cannot openly show affection in other ways!

Then there is the quote, “suddenly turn on a dime at the end and leap into Eragon’s arms.” Okay. She wouldn’t be suddenly turning on a dime whether she was openly flirting with him before or not. It has been clear since AT LEAST early in Brisingr that she has feelings for him. Accepting him finally is not a sharp turn at all. Also… “leap into Eragon’s arms?” Is he serious? Was that really how Chris saw their relationship starting? Does Chris think he’s writing Twilight or something? Of course the thought of Arya leaping into his arms– or some other public, cliché, romantic display– is absurd. I fear the problem the whole time was Christopher’s apparent antiquated idea of what romance is. Flirting and leaping into the man’s arms are definitely not what anyone expected of Arya, but there are more mature ways to show love and be with another person.

Also, whether there was justification for Arya to become Queen in Chris’s mind or not, there was NOT sufficient justification in the book for the readers. That is a fact. But I was hoping to get some insight from Chris on the subject, to which he said:

Christopher Paolini: Arya is/was so devoted to the service of her people, she had the yawë glyph tattooed on her shoulder. Remember, the yawë symbolizes selfless service. She left Du Weldenvarden in the first place because of her differences with her mother and her need to serve. Well, now Galbatorix is dead, as is her mother, and it seems entirely reasonable to me that Arya would have no trouble returning to Ellesméra now.

I don’t know about all of you, but that did not look to me to be justification for her to become Queen. I have no problem with her returning to Ellesmera, but becoming Queen is a considerably larger decision. Again, if you ask me, Chris soured on the idea of the ending he had in his head and decided she needed to stay, so he needed some reason to make her stay, no matter how weak that reason. I feel a little bit let down that he still cannot justify it to me. The same goes for Eragon’s reasoning for leaving Alagaesia.

All that being said, there were a few things from the interview that were interesting and positive. We got a bit of answer about Brom’s final words (basically he never could fit them in — better than being forgotten, I guess), a “No Comment,” in regards to Murtagh and Thorn’s ambiguous future, and assurance that the mysterious women were indeed intended to be the protagonists of a future installment. The news of plans for the future (including promise of revisiting old characters and loose-ends) did give me some happiness, though I would have been more excited with a good ending to Inheritance. Still. I am looking somewhat forward to the future of the series. Hopefully Chris matures his writing and doesn’t over-think his plot too much in his next one.

Hey everyone. I know a lot of you have been wondering where the hell I’ve been and why I haven’t chime in the last week. Actually I just finished the book last night. You wouldn’t believe the distractions I’ve had that interrupted my reading. Only on the first day for about 6 hours did I have any substantial time to read in one sitting without being to tired to focus long. But, anyway, I’m done now, and I know everybody wants some review of the book. So, I will give my review and any who wish to do the same may do so below or on the Forum thread that IrishGal was nice enough to set up in my absence.

Let me start out by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the large majority of the book. It was an engaging read for me, and had some amazing action and steady character development, with a few exceptions. However it was not perfect, had a number of plot holes, unanswered questions, and insufficiently answered questions and a bit of a rushed feel toward the end. If we get into the particulars and the details, you will find flaws, but I still think that, overall, the story was pretty epic and action-pack as well as moving at times.

Now, I know a lot of you are hating on the book. I’ve read a lot of the comments on the forum thread complaining about one thing or another, a question unanswered, unfulfilled expectations, etc. But I ask all of you to sit back and remember the whole plot in a general context and tell me that it wasn’t a pretty good story.

My biggest problems with the book on a general level were the way that MANY of the loose ends were saved post-climax (making it unnecessarily long), the way that the previously established methods of fighting with magic on the battlefield and the ability to absorb energy from life around you (or from un guarded soldier’s themselves) were pretty much abandoned without apparent reason, and the enormous time spent on the explicit details of battle and war plans in place of exploring relationships, tying loose ends properly and pacing the book to get you to the important details in a timely manner. Also, never once was ‘Eldunarya’ used. Chris has said explicitly that this is the plural form of eldunari, yet he repeatedly used eldunari for both singular and plural usage, which urked me a lot. There was no reason for that.

However, I did love the cleverness Roran displayed repeatedly, the development of Elva’s sense of duty, Angela’s continued sense of mystery and humor (She was never meant to be more than a mystery guys. Get over trying to figure her out), Nasuada’s ever-present strength and leadership ability, Murtagh’s growth and eventual redemption through his love for Nasuada, Arya’s ever more apparent, subtle, elf-like displays of affection for Eragon, and Eragon’s maturity and growth into a man, Rider and true leader. Above all else, though, Galbatorix’s menace and silver tongue were pretty damn well-written, and even I as a reader found myself questioning his supposed evilness, having been presented with a perfectly reasonable picture of Alagaesia and somehow being manipulated into marginalizing his horrible deeds until they were pointed out again by Nasuada or Eragon. He was the perfect villain.

That being said, I want to remark on a few things. For space’s sake I will get into the particulars in the comments below.

Notice: I am not the owner or administrator of this site, but I believe I speak for Patrick when I say this.

Some of you are getting your copies of Inheritance early… several days (almost a week) early in some cases. But the vast majority of us, myself included, will not be getting the book until November 8th. In the mean time, many of us are discussing and chatting about the book to tide ourselves over until we get our copies. So, IF you got your book early or will get it early, (lucky!) be courteous to those of us who have have to wait and come here to ease the anticipation.

DO NOT SPOIL ANYTHING IN THE BOOKS!

Under any circumstances.

I mean nothing. No plots, no romances, no reveals, no posting on theories declaring them “right,” “wrong,” or “close,” nothing. Not even general opinions. As hard as it is for you to resist talking about it for a few days, imagine how hard it is for the rest of is to not know and to have to avoid people who do. Just hold off!

On November 8th, after the wide release (sorry for those who have to wait for translations), and no sooner, everyone can join in together on the site and discuss the book. But, please wait until that day. Thanks guys!

Hey guys. Usually, I write out long arguments or analyses for my articles, but today I just wanted to point you to a useful page. I know a lot of you don’t read the interviews or haven’t read any in a long time. However, in preparation for the release, which some of you are apparently [...]

Hey Guys. Part 2 of Mike McCauley’s latest interview with Christopher Paolini was posted a few days ago, and, as promised, here’s my article on it (sorry for the delay before this post… I’ve been on a Breaking Bad marathon! Great show!). The interview was kinda lean on the interesting material, in my opinion at [...]

by Vadersapp Hey guys, though it’s to be expected this close to the release date, there’s been a lull in both fan-posts and inheritance news as of late. I was planning on waiting for the release of the second half of Mike McCauley’s interview with Christopher Paolini before posting this, just to pace things out [...]

by Nartin The “Inheritance Cycle” is, without a doubt, my favorite series today. I don’t, however, have any idea why. The purpose of this article isn’t for me to convince you not to read and enjoy the cycle; it’s to discuss the merits and draw-backs of the series objectively. I have a few theories why [...]

Hey Guys, Vadersapp here. I know at least a few of you frequent the internet’s most popular Inheritance fansite, Shurtugal.com, created and operated by Mike Macauley. But, I also know a lot of you do not. So, for those of you who don’t know, and for those that have been waiting like myself, Mike McCauley [...]

Almost all the articles on this site are merely a matter of opinion, which, of course, differs with different people. I think the Rock of Kuthian is where the vault of souls is. And the vault of Souls contain not the Eldunaris, but the souls of the grey folk. As I said earlier, a matter [...]